Today we come to a very important verse for all Christians, and a very influential verse in the founding of Sweet Selah Ministries. Let’s read it. Mark 12:29-30: “Jesus replied, “The most important commandment is this: ‘Listen, O Israel! The Lord our God is the one and only Lord. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.” We should all know that there is one commandment that is most important of all. Note that it isn’t related to hard work or being especially talented or brave or smart. In fact, this commandment can be obeyed by the tiniest child, the frailest elderly person and the sickest among us. What God wants from us first and foremost is our … LOVE. And He wants all of our love: heart, soul, mind and strength.
When I founded Sweet Selah Ministries, I wanted to encourage all of us, myself included, to not neglect the greatest things of all – loving God. Just how do we love someone? We spend time with them. We learn their likes and dislikes. We listen to them. We think about them all the time and find ways to make them smile. That same love should be a part of our “sweet selah” times with God. Let’s not neglect our daily times with Him. Let’s crave them because it means we get to be still with Him whom we love! Let’s learn God’s likes and dislikes. Let’s listen to Him through His Word and through prayer. We’ll find ourselves thinking about Him all the time and finding ways to make Him smile!
We end this chapter with Jesus disliking the way the teachers of the law flaunted themselves. We see Him touched by the giving of the poor widow, who literally gave all the money she had, meager though it was, to the Lord. God wants us to be “all in.” His love for us is so passionate and deep that He numbers the very hairs on our heads. And He is jealous with a godly jealousy for our love to belong to Him alone. Oh if we could but grasp how DEEP the love He has for us! I am so glad we are spending time in this study getting to know Him better and loving Him more and more.
My recorded verse: Mark 12:40 “Yet they shamelessly cheat widows out of their property and then pretend to be pious by making long prayers in public. Because of this, they will be more severely punished.”
My response: Lord, thank You for this chilling warning. You will not tolerate internal sin masked by external piety. You see my inmost being. You know all my thoughts, words and deeds. Lord, help me to be purely devoted to You all the way through me. Expose to me any hints of hypocrisy and rid me of it, please!
2 Comments. Leave new
Vs 44- “ For they gave a tiny part of their surplus, but she, poor as she is, has given everything she had to live on.”
Lord, I pray I would give ALL of myself to You., not just the portion that doesn’t change me.
Jenny, I echo that prayer. I hold back. I know I do. And I don’t want to!! We can trust Him with ALL. And He can do the most good in us and through us when nothing is held back.